The Train

The night before Christmas Eve I took the kids on the Frontrunner train down to see the lights at Temple Square.  Devin was already working in Salt Lake, so we met him down there.  We were able to go with Grandma and Grandpa Rounds, and Ryan's family.

 Daxton was in love with the train.  He talks about trains all the time.  He was pretty excited when we actually got to ride on one.  He looked out the window the entire time.

 This baby was so good!  I don't think he made a peep the entire time we were gone.  He is such a dream baby to travel with.

 Still looking out the window...

 Three kids and a mom on a train.  I remember the days when I thought traveling with one child was hard.  Now I can manage three by myself, and it doesn't seem like a huge deal.  Funny how that happens.

 Yep, his face is still glued to that window.

 We stopped by the old ZCMI building to check out the candy windows.  Every year they make some awesome Christmas displays using only candy!  Makayla was in awe.

 They were pretty cool.

 We got to the temple just as the lights turned on.  We couldn't have timed it better.  It wasn't super cold yet, it wasn't too dark, and it wasn't crowded.  It turned out perfectly. 

 Ah, the love of my life.  We really were made for each other.

 We went over to City Creek to check out the fountains.  As you can see, Makayla was ready to be inside eating by this point.

 Dax thought the fountains were amazing.  They time the fountains to play with Christmas music.  They also had big fireballs blazing in the middle of the fountains.  Neat.

 This is basically how he was the entire time.  Good baby.  Gooooood baby.

 On our way home.  Makayla loves Kyla.  She constantly refers to her as her "bss".  I think what she means is that Kyla is her "bff" which means they are best friends forever.

We had the best time, and it was the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit.  We may have found a new family tradition!

Growing Babies

My sweet children are always growing.  I don't like it.  At all.  I don't like it at all.  I want to keep them all little babies forever.  However, I am enjoying every stage of life with them.  I am so grateful for these children.  They are the greatest blessing I have been given, and I am proud to be their mommy.

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I am a bit late in posting this, but I haven't had a lot of free time lately.  Halloween this year wasn't what I expected since we had to cater to the needs of our crippled child.  However, it was fun and he enjoyed himself so I consider it a success.

Makayla was Elsa from Frozen, I was a chef with the cutest little lobster I could find for my pot (Carter boy!), Devin was a cowboy, and Daxton was Olaf, the snowman from Frozen.

Luckily, I hadn't made Daxton's costume when he broke his leg.  He was still set on being Olaf, so I had to make him a costume that would fit his circumstance.  It wasn't perfect, but it worked out just fine.  We had to put him in a wagon with pillows, and I just made a costume that just went over the top of him.

The kids had fun at the trunk-or-treat.  I think it brightened Daxton's mood quite a bit when he realized he was getting candy.

 Our car was decorated as Cookie Monster.

 Daxton got loaded up on extra treats from all the sweet people in our ward.

By the time we had soup inside Daxton wanted to go home and go to bed, and Carter had passed out.  We took the boys home and Devin stayed with them while I took Makayla out trick-or-treating.  She had a blast, but she did miss her best buddy.  There is always next year!

Five Weeks Down, One To Go!

I think it is safe to say that Devin and I have had more trials in the last year than the rest of our marriage combined.  The last five weeks have been no exception.  Daxton has tested my patience on a daily (sometimes an hourly) basis.  He gets frustrated that he can't move how he wants, or he is itchy, or he is tired and can't sleep well.  It has been hard as a mommy to watch him suffer, and it has been hard as a person to deal with him as he suffers.  However, I can see so many wonderful blessings through it all.  I am just amazed by how loved we are by friends, family, ward members, and a loving Father in Heaven.  Isn't it wonderful how trials can sometimes turn out to be blessings in disguise?

Five weeks has crawled by, but when I think I only have one more week of this I feel like we have done pretty well hanging on to our sanity.  One week.  Just one more week! Happiness.

 The first week Daxton woke up about every hour during the night crying because of pain, and some nights he didn't sleep at all.  It was awful.  He didn't sleep, which meant mommy didn't sleep. I really struggle without sleep, and no sleep mixed with hours of screaming was not fun. Once we got to the three week mark he started sleeping through the night again.

 Daxton loves when Devin gets home.  That is a time of day when I can plan on smiles and giggles.  He just melts into Devin.  I am so grateful to have a husband that is a good daddy.

So far Dax has had quite a few visitors, and has received lots of goodies and toys.  What a lucky little boy he is.  He seems to brighten up when someone stops by the see him.

 Daxton's cast stinks. Bad.  It stinks bad.  Poor little guy.  I have pulled out some of the stuffing from the inside of the cast because it got so gross.  I change his moleskin on a daily basis, and we change his diapers frequently, but he still smells bad.  One more week.  I think I can.  I have given him some baths with a warm wash rag, but he usually screams at me and asks for Grandma Sylvia to do it.  For some reason he likes it when she does it.  Oh well, at least he is getting a bath somehow.

This little fella is getting around the house quite well now.  He pulls himself around and scoots with his legs to get where he wants to be.  He tries to pull himself up on the furniture and does flips.  I cannot wait to hear the little patter of his feet running down the hall again.  

The other evening I was making dinner and he was wanting milk.  He eventually got sick of waiting for me, so he crawled in from the living room through the kitchen, got the fridge door open, and tried to climb up to get some milk.  I couldn't help but smile and just watch him try his best to be independent.

I am so grateful to only have one week left of this.  I sincerely hope this never happens to any of my children ever again.  It has been something I will never forget.

Broken Femur

October 18, 2014

My family decided to go camping this weekend.  We went up around North Fork Canyon at Camp Liberty.  The camping was ideal, because it wasn't hot outside, but we had a lodge to stay in so we didn't get cold at night.  There was a small playground for the kids that kept them busy for hours, and a big field that we played soccer and ultimate frisbee on.  The camping was just lovely--until Daxton decided to break his leg.

Sigh.  May I just quickly say that a broken leg in a two-year-old is the worst thing ever?  I was sitting in a chair feeding Carter as everyone was packing up getting ready to go home when Daxton walked up next to me.  His blanket was on the floor (which was like a shiny cement kind of flooring) when he stepped on it, twisted weird, and fell down.  Naturally, I told him to hop up.  After all, kids fall like that ten times a day without any issues.  I noticed when Dax tried to stand up he couldn't.  He tried two or three times, and then finally just sat on the floor crying.  When Devin came in the room I told him what had happened and that Dax wasn't standing.  Devin scooped him up and put him in the car to watch a movie while we finished packing up.  The next time I went to check on Dax in the car, he was asleep.  I figured he was fine.

As we were driving down the canyon, Daxton was crying a little, but nothing major.  When we got to the house and I pulled him out of his carseat he started to scream.  We went in the house and I took his pants off to see that his thigh was twice its normal size.  I put him straight back in the car and went to Instacare.  Devin got the other kids taken care of, and the joined me about 30 minutes later.  

When the doctor first came in, he didn't think the leg was broken according to the story I gave him about Dax just slipping on a blanket.  Luckily, he decided to do an x-ray.  By this point I had been holding Dax for a few hours, and my body was dying!  When the doctor came back in the room he pulled up the x-ray, and sure enough, Daxton's femur was broken.  His FEMUR!  The doctor left the room for a minute and then came back to say an ambulance was on its way to take us to Primary Children's Hospital.  The break was severe enough that they were worried about internal bleeding, and wanted us to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.  

Since the news hit Devin like a ton of bricks, he got lightheaded and had to lay down.  That automatically volunteered me to ride in the ambulance with my poor baby.  Gratefully, my parents live a few blocks from the Instacare, and Grandpa Randy was able to come help Devin give Daxton a blessing before we got in the ambulance.  I am so grateful for the Priesthood in situations like this.  I could just feel the power and love from above, and I am certain that is what helped us get through the rest of the day and weekend.

In the ambulance Daxton was given an IV and some oxygen tubes for breathing.  He was completely strapped down so he couldn't move.  I could tell he was scared, so I just held his hand the whole way and just keep telling him that it was going to be fine, and that Mommy wouldn't leave him.  I have never been so worried about one of my children.  It was not a fun feeling, and I hope to never have it again.

I got to Primary Children's about 3:00 or so, and Devin met me there shortly after.  About 7:30 in the evening Daxton was taken into surgery to have his bone set and have a spika cast placed on his leg.

 Waiting for surgery.

 Trying to get some rest.

 This is what I saw when I went in to see him right after he came out of anesthesia.  I choked back tears when I saw the cast.  I couldn't believe that slipping on a blanket could cause this.  My baby was in a body cast.

 I had to go home that night because Carter needed to be fed, so Devin spent the night with Dax.

 On Sunday afternoon we got to take him home.  It turned out to be a looooong weekend, but I am grateful that everything went well, and that Daxton was well cared for.